Restrictions on capital exports may scare off investors - Putin
NOVO-OGARYOVO. Feb 6 (Interfax) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin opposed restrictions on capital exports at the Monday meeting with political experts.
"A ban or limitation on capital exports is a coin with the well-known reverse - it means limitation of imports. When there is a restriction on capital exports, a prospective investor will think he will be unable to leave the country. That is a golden rule of investment," he said.
Some $60-62 billion out of $85 billion taken out of Russia last year were investments of Russian companies in assets abroad, Putin said, adding that it was a development area. For instance, the Rosatom state corporation received about $2 billion from the government in the most difficult phase of the crisis and invested the money in uranium assets.
"They bought uranium assets with the importance of a national treasure. They supplied us with raw material for the next century. They made the purchases in Africa, the United States, Canada and Kazakhstan," Putin said.